This invention relates to an automatic recording fluorometer/densitometer.
Electrophoresis is a clinical procedure based on the phenomenon that charged molecules diffuse through a gel sample in response to an applied voltage.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,479,265 and 3,635,808 disclose thin film agarose sample plates which can be used as the electrophoretic medium. The thin film samples of these patents are particularly convenient for handling and storage.
These samples are analyzed by fluorometric or densitometric optical detection. One instrument for automatically making analyses of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,706,877.
A recorder which produces an analog record of the optical analysis is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,187 Keefer.
Instruments which optically or otherwise scan samples and produce an analog trace as an output have traditionally utilized one mechanism to transport the sample past the detector and another, generally a chart recorder or X, Y, plotter, to record the trace.
In using sample analyzers, it is necessary to visually align the sample plate with the scanning optics. Often, clinical procedure requires that the sample be scanned along several sample tracks. This visual alignment is time-consuming and subject to error.